Abruzzo in 3 days = the medieval ghost villages of the Gran Sasso (Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Rocca Calascio), the Campo Imperatore plateau (Mussolini's prison, now a hiking paradise), and Sulmona (confetti candy + Ovid's birthplace). The wildest, least touristed region in central Italy — wolves, bears, medieval towers, and complete silence.
Each day is a logical geographic loop. Mornings for sights, afternoons for food, evenings for aperitivo. Car essential.
Day 1: L'Aquila + Santo Stefano. L'Aquila (the city rebuilding after the 2009 earthquake — Basilica di Collemaggio). Drive to Santo Stefano di Sessanio (the Sextantio albergo diffuso — a whole medieval village restored as a hotel). Day 2: Rocca Calascio + Campo Imperatore. Sunrise at Rocca Calascio (1,460m — the highest fortress in the Apennines, used in Ladyhawke and The Name of the Rose). Drive across Campo Imperatore (the "Little Tibet" — a 27km high-altitude plateau, empty, vast). Day 3: Sulmona + Scanno. Sulmona (Piazza Garibaldi, confetti — sugar-coated almonds, Ovid statue). Scanno (the heart-shaped lake, the women's traditional costume, the photographers' village).
Best time: April-June, September-October (summer for mountains/beaches). Agriturismi/rifugi 60-120/night.